Joe Murray Studio

Joe Murray paints, draws, animates, writes and designs for print, television and film. His television, film and illustration projects are award winning. He also teaches and consults.

The studio is perhaps best known for the creation, development and production of Nickelodeons animated series Rocko's Modern Life,
and Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo, as well as several character properties for advertising and marketing, children's books, editorial work and festival films.

Simpsons Short Receives Oscar Nomination

I have to say I’m a little disgruntled. As much as I love the Simpsons, I have a hard time that a nomination slot for the Animated Short Oscar is being taken up by a TV property.

Independent animated shorts are an extremely hard road to tow. They get very little recognition and accolades, even though there are many made with extreme creative genius and care. The Academy Awards are their time to shine, and the compilations of the nominated films get a lot of exposure.

I have to admit I have not seen the short, and I’m sure it’s probably excellent having been directed by David Silverman, whose been with the Simpsons from the start. So maybe I have no place to say. And I don’t like saying something is not deserving because they probably already have to put their awards in storage to handle the overflow of their trophy case.

13 Responses to January 11, 2013

I was disappointed in 2002 when Pixar’s ‘mike’s new car’ was nominated. It was a dvd bonus feature. It was funny, but not even close to as good as Pixar’s other short films. Same goes for Blue Sky’s Scrat shorts.

The Simpsons short was also nominated for an annie for animated short subject along with Bill Plympton’s simpsons couch gag, which is even weirder.

Of course John R. Dilworth was nominated for the ‘chicken from outer space’ in 1995, but it was the pilot episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog years before it became a series.

Out of all the nominees for this years Oscar, the only one I’ve seen in the theater was Paperman, which was shown alongside Wreck-It Ralph. It was a fantastic black and white short, and it is one of the few nominees that deserve the Oscar this year. However, I do agree with you, Mr. Murray. In my personal opinion, and as much I respect The Simpsons for revolutionizing TV comedy, the Simpsons short should not get the award. Not saying it doesn’t deserve it, but the award is more suited to a film that looks brand new, original, and is all-in-all something that we as an audience haven’t seen before in this day and age, especially by independent artists who are new to the motion picture industry.

I suppose it was also difficult when recently on his journal/blog, Don Hertzfeldt http://www.bitterfilms.com/ talked about attending the nomination process where his film was also being considered. It sounded painful to say the least, the way he describes it. But also enlightening how such films such as the Simpsons piece could have made the cut.

I’m just starting to lose respect for The Simpsons all together, it’s gone from leading the way in the “creator” era to “how can we keep this dying property still looking oober popular and relevant?” I say if Fox wants to keep up in the new generation, they need to take risks like investing in new creators who are actually passionate about their creations and letting them make what they want. Fox has this tendency to turn away shows that aren’t about families in the format of the Simpsons, that’s why almost all the shows post Simpsons are like The Simpsons. Not because Macfarlane or Judge were ripping them off, but because they were told their shows have to be in that format. I’m not kidding, they turned away Trey Parker and Matt Stone with South Park in the early 90s for that reason, and what a loss that was! Just to show how daft the logic of these Fox execs is, just imagine if Nickelodeon would have required all animated shows after Ren and Stimpy to be centered around a zany cat and dog pair because that model was so successful. There would have been no Rocko and in turn no Spongebob. Even bigger loss! I’m not too worried about The Simpsons talking up Oscar space, because as the years progress, either Fox animation will be forced to invest in new artists with their own original ideas or drown in their own stubbornness. FTR this is nothing against Groening (who I greatly respect) or any of the animated shows themselves, just Fox’s silly execs metaling a whole lot more than they should and stifling the potential for new works of art to be seen.

Who’s to say that was a mistake. Just bc Fox turned down South Park, doesn’t automatically mean it would have been successful on Fox. When you’re on network, the expectations are much bigger, and they probably wouldn’t have been able to fill them.

There’s a bigger story as to how Futurama, plus King of the Hill and Family Guy came about. But the fact that Futurama was a workplace sitcom, rather than a family sitcom might’ve been what doomed it the first time. Even after it found its audience, and even as it was still winning awards, FOX was all-too eager to get rid of it.

Well, there is always some of that in mass media entertainment, following whats been done before. That is why new directions usually come from the independent market where risks are taken. That is why the nominations are important ( as are respected festivals) to showcase some of these new directions that advance the art, rather than 20 year old properties that are same old, same old.